The Art Of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander

Since her twin brother, Eddie, drowned five years ago, sixteen-year-old Elsie Main has tried to remember what really happened that fateful day on the beach. One minute Eddie was there, and the next he was gone. Seventeen-year-old Tay McKenzie is a cute and mysterious boy that Elsie meets in her favorite boathouse hangout. When Tay introduces Elsie to the world of freediving, she vows to find the answers she seeks at the bottom of the sea. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

4 STARS 

Edward Main
11 April 2000-11 April 2011
Today we are sixteen. Happy birthday, Edward.



Elsie's twin drowned when they were eleven-years-old. Elsie can't remember what all happened that day but she feels like it's her fault.

THINGS I KNOW ABOUT THAT DAY:

1. Mum was at home making our chocolate birthday cake.
2. Dillon was swimming with the dolphins.
3. Eddie and I were wading close to shore.
4. One minute Eddie was there, and then he was gone.
5. Dad was supposed to be on the beach, but I couldn't see him.
6. Mum arrived later after the police called her.
7. I collapsed and Dad came to get me.
8. All my memories are tinged with a blue haze.

There are a lot of things going on in this book. It's a big mystery what actually happened to Eddie, until the end of course. Elsie spends a lot of time a lone in a boat house where she ends up meeting a buy named Tay and then the whole crew, Danny and a few other boys. They do free diving as a hobby and Elsie decides she wants to learn so Tay starts to teach her.


Elsie has an older brother named Dillon and something bad is starting to happen to him. This THING eventually ends him up in the hospital. The whole family is disfunctional, a lot of things have went wrong along the way.

Elsie gets picked on at school by bullies, it makes me sick and I wish someone would beat them down.

Alisa slams into me, nearly knocking me into the road.
"Ergh, you're still alive. We all hoped you'd died over the holidays." she says.
I walk on. Sometimes I do wish I were dead, but then who would look after Eddie?

I mean someone needs to take all of these bullies and put them somewhere. Period. Done.



Elsie feels like she's not even important at home.

After a little while, I wonder if anyone at home has noticed that I'm not there. Sometimes I feel invisible, like a wisp of air that tickles the back of someone's neck before they close the window to block the draft.

But in the water... she feels something... memories



Elsie slowly starts to remember things that happened that day. She starts to figure out why her brother Dillon has issues with Tay and why does Danny seem angry all of the time.

All of the answers come out in the water, all she needs is enough time to figure it out.



There are a lot of secrets in this book. I found it all to be very sad, but some things turned out for the better when all of the secrets come out in the open.

*I would like to thank Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:
 
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1333214677

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544633881?keywords=the%20art%20of%20not%20breathing&qid=1458223124&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1